The bullying of academics follows a pattern of horrendous, Orwellian elimination rituals, often hidden from the public. Despite the anti-bullying policies (often token), bullying is rife across campuses, and the victims (targets) often pay a heavy price.
"Nothing strengthens authority as much as silence." Leonardo da Vinci - "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men [or good women] do nothing." Edmund Burke

February 28, 2015

My
supervisor just casually announced they had applied and gained a grant
for themselves- using exactly my highly individual research. You don't
mind - do you- he said- I said no, very shakily- on the spot- this was a
brief unscheduled encounter- and I felt totally shocked and
intimidated, he then cancelled our scheduled meeting and has not
responded to my requests for another and I dont know how to proceed-or
what to do.
- He is head of research at the institution. Any advice appreciated.

Anonymous
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I
feel it is so disgusting that bullying, stonewalling, discrimination,
ignoring policies and laws of the land take place in Cambridge. The
disabled from my experience are also discriminated against. The way the
world is nowadays with all being brought into question a body or
superior organisation needs to bring about justice and highlight there
wrong doing. I am sure it will people as the tuition fees is so high
now.

Anonymous
--------

It
is horrific and ridiculous how much it gets swept under the carpet by
universities. I too have experienced a form of academic bullying from
day one. Some similarities although not to the same extent. I too
seemingly said the wrong thing to a potential colleague on day one,
which resulted in a judgment call being made against me. I was responded
to aggressively. When I had to give a general introduction to my topic
in a team meeting this person was asking me to define terms and
interrogating my proposal - it was supposed to be a 5 minute welcome to
the team! Yet the other Phd students were left unscathed. Meetings
followed where my contributions were either ignored or scorned. This
really knocked my confidence. I was also accused of being lazy as I
wasn't going into the office yet for there was no issue for the other
students who actually lived closer to campus than me. There is much more
but basically it got to the point were my nerves were shattered...

February 06, 2015

A whistleblower who accused university sports centre staff of
corruption and fraud has won legal claims against her former employers.

Sports manager Fiona Roberts accused Staffordshire University staff of a string of wrongdoings costing thousands of pounds.
She claimed that:

Staff pocketed money from deleted sports bookings

Staff took equipment to moonlight as fitness coaches

10p coins were going missing from lockers

There were discrepancies with vending machine cash

University equipment was sold on Facebook

Ms
Roberts told a previous Birmingham employment tribunal hearing that
there was a “culture of staff taking what they could and of being proud
of being able to steal money.”

The allegations were made as Ms
Roberts accused the university of unfair treatment which caused her to
resign, prompting a legal claim for constructive unfair dismissal. She
also claimed damages for breach of contract.

Ms Roberts, 47,
joined the university in 2000 and was sports manager both for the
university’s campus at Stafford and at the Sir Stanley Matthews
university sports campus at Stoke-on-Trent. In a witness statement
she said: “It came to my notice that sports equipment belonging to the
university was missing and I suspected two staff members whom I believed
were using the equipment to provide fitness coaching for their own
private gain.

“I made the management aware of the situation.”

The
tribunal was told in Ms Roberts’ statement that the bookings system was
allegedly abused by staff. Bookings were deleted and the money pocketed
by staff who were later suspended, she claimed.
But the
university opposed her legal claims, and accused her of failing to act
when “wrongdoing” issues were brought to her attention.

“She
should have known something was amiss when the sports centre income for
August and September in 2013 was £28,000 down against the budget,”
university bosses said.

Ms Roberts denied that she had not responded.

“There
was a knee jerk reaction to suspend me without considering my long
service and the fact that I brought wrongdoings to the attention of the
management,” she said.

And last week tribunal judge Mr David
Dimbylow agreed, ruling that her claims for constructive unfair
dismissal and damages were both well-founded and successful.

”I concluded that the claimant had undertaken no action which was culpable or blameworthy,” he said.

“She
did not cause, or contribute to, her losing her job and it would not be
just or equitable to reduce any award. We go on to state, contrary to
the respondent’s assertions, that there was no repudiatory conduct on
part of the claimant.”

Mr Dimbylow added that Ms Roberts’
suspension related to a need for a full and formal investigation into
the possible misuse of the booking system and serious allegations of
potential fraud and breach of professional responsibility.

“As we
understand it, two employees who were dismissed were involved in the
competing gym business and the misuse of cash,” said Mr Dimyblow.

A tribunal hearing to announce the amount of the award to be granted, did not take place. A tribunal spokesman said later: “It appears a settlement may have been reached in private prior to the hearing.”

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Useful and informative Links

• Bad Apple Bullies - If you work as a teacher in Queensland, a Bad Apple Bully principal can destroy your health and your career with malicious gossip and secret sticky-notes.

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• Bully Online - Those who can, do. Those who can't, bully. Bully OnLine is the world's leading web site on workplace bullying and related issues which validates the experience of workplace bullying and provides confirmation, reassurance and re-empowerment.

• Suppression of dissent - The general field of "suppression of dissent" includes whistleblowing, free speech, systems of social control and related topics. The purpose of the site is to foster examination of these issues and action against suppression. It is founded on the assumption that openness and dialogue should be fostered to challenge unaccountable power.

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• The Workplace Bullying Institute is the sole United States organization dedicated to the eradication of workplace bullying through public education, help for individuals, employer solutions and legislative advocacy.